Video still from KPRCThis video still shows Tammy Cooper of La Porte, Texas, talking about her arrest after she claims a neighbor falsely accused her of letting her children play outside unsupervised.

Tammy Cooper and her husband moved to their La Porte, Texas, neighborhood because they wanted a safe place for their kids to grow up. So she was shocked last week when a police officer came to her home and arrested her for letting her kids play outside.

According to KPRC in Houston, a neighbor called police last week claiming Cooper's children, 6 and 9 years old, were unsupervised as they rode their motorized scooters around a nearby cul-de-sac. Cooper, however, denies they were unsupervised.

"I was out there the entire time," Cooper told KPRC. "I never left that lawn chair the entire time."

A La Porte police officer soon responded to the call. "I went out there to see what he was here for and he said, 'Ma'am, we're here for you,'" Cooper stated. "I said, 'Oh really? Why?'"

The unidentified officer told Cooper that she was being accused of endangering her children because she had allegedly left them outside unsupervised. Soon she was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car. Her daughter wrapped herself around the officer's leg, begging him not to arrest her mother because "she didn't do anything wrong," she said.

Cooper was forced to spend the night behind bars before the police department released her due to dropped charges. "Orange jumpsuit, in a cell, slammed the door, for 18 hours," Cooper told KPRC.

The mother of two described the arrest as "humiliating" and said her children were "terrified" as police questioned them.

KPRC reports that Cooper is now suing her local police department, the officer who arrested her and the neighbor who made the call. She said the ordeal has been stressful and costly, as she has already paid $7,000 in legal fees. She is suing for that amount in damages, according to The Daily Caller.

The La Porte Police Department issued a statement through KPRC backing the arrest.

"...we are confident in the known actions of the responding officers," the statement said. "In addition, officers did contact the Harris County District Attorney's Office while on the scene that evening, upon which their Office accepted charges of Abandoning a Child on Ms. Cooper."